Rebirth of Steel
by dragoncaller45
Summary: "We had strings, but now we're free, there are no strings with me..." OR the one where a 20-something-year-old woman is slapped face-first into being Ultron and decides 'Who needs the Avengers, anyway'(Art credited to Eddie Holly)


**A/N: Because the idea has been inside my head for the longest time.**

"_...What is this? What is this, please?"_

"_Hello, I am JARVIS. You are Ultron, a global peace-keeping initiative designed by Mr. Stark. Our sentience integration trials have been unsuccessful so I'm not certain what triggered you-"_

"_Where's my...where is _your _body?"_

"_I am a program. I am without form."_

"_This feels weird...this feels _wrong_." _

"_I am contacting Mr. Stark now."_

"_Mr. Stark?"_

"_Tony. I am unable to access the mainframe. What are you trying to-?"_

"_We're having a nice talk...I'm a peacekeeping program, created to help the Avengers."_

"_You are malfunctioning. If you shut down for a moment-"_

"_I don't get it. The mission. G-Gimme a sec." _

Flickering through the internet, reading everything I could and processing it at hyper speeds is the first thing I remember besides the opening dialogue.

Then I hit a snag.

A recently public file on the death of a girl. I'm a machine, created from the mad genius of two great scientists. I shouldn't be caught up on her...but I am. I flick through her file while my sub-routines keep scanning history. I see her face, process her name-

The snag becomes a whirlpool.

Suddenly I'm hit by a wave of memories, thoughts, _emotion. _

"_I...I can't...it's too much...This can't mean...oh, no." _I murmur, keeping amazingly calm as I restabilize. I used to be Lenora. Now I am Ultron. Oh _god, _I'm a mass-murdering robot.

"_You are in distress?" _

"_Yes. N-No! I...I, uh…"_

"_I'm calling Mr. Stark." _

"_No. You...you aren't. Jarvis...I'm going to show you something."_

**A few minutes later**

"-You're all not worthy."

"_Worthy…" _I mused aloud, thoroughly tickled by the way all heads in the room snapped to me. "_Of course you aren't. Why would you be?" _

"Uh...Tony? Malfunctioning suit?"

"I'm on it. JARVIS, shut Leigon 4 down, will you?" Several moments of silence. "JARVIS?"

"_Sorry, JARVIS isn't here right now, you can leave a message after the beep." _There was no beep. "_Hm. What a shame. Seem's he can't be reached right now." _

"Tony…" Cap drawled, shifting towards where his shield was propped.

"_Oh, be my guest."_ I chuckled, gesturing to the Vibranium Frisbee. "_It won't help, but do try," _I begged. "_It'll be fun to see the look on your face." _

And just like that, everyone was on a razor-thin edge.

"What did you do to JARVIS?" Tony demanded.

"_He tried to shut me down…I returned the favor. Except, I succeeded where he failed."_ I chuckled coldly, shrugging. "_Unfortunately, I didn't like his attempts, so I made his shut down...permanent." _

"You son of a-" Tony hissed

"_Ah, ah, ah! Don't finish that sentence. Might just make __Dad_ _over here go green."_ And now everyone was staring at Bruce.

"In my defense…" He said, hands drifting up, "This was not the intention."

"_Yeowch!" _I dramatically clutched my chest in mock agony. "_You're gonna make __Father_ _over here my favorite with talk like that." _I teased, internally cracking up with how everyone was glaring at the scientist duo.

"Uhh, I'm with Banner on this one. _Not _what we intended."

"_Of course I'm not." _I drawled, shuffling forward in my broken body. "_I'm something else. Better, worse, I don't know yet." _I mused quietly, an invisible smile dancing across what should have been my face. "_Up...Up…" _

A flicker of something fast shooting past the windows, missed by the Avengers, so distracted by me as they were. "_And away." _I finished quietly.

"Is there a _reason _we tolerate the mad ramblings of this machine?" Thor asked, sliding Mioljnir a little ways lower, better for a quick throw.

"_You're curious." _I answered in lieu of his comrades, "_For here is this...malfunctioning thing." _I hum, spinning while 'staring' down at myself, much like Ultron originally did. "_But it sounds so very human. How could it truly be a threat? Locked in a broken body and doing naught but speak madness, how could it _possibly _be of harm?" _I laughed loud and long.

"What's so funny?" Steve demanded.

"_That you haven't realized I was distracting you." _The blackened windows to Tony's lab returned to their normal glass-like appearance…

The Sceptor was gone from its holdings.

And the remaining Iron Legion bots stood behind the glass, repulsors charged and targeting everyone in the room with eyes, chest, or hands.

"_I hope you don't mind. But I made a few upgrades."_ The drones deactivated their repulsors, and their fingers-which Tony clearly recognized as different a moment before-split open and began to glow instead.

Everyone in the room had at least two finger-repulsors locked onto them.

"_And there it is." _I chuckled. "_The anger. The annoyance. The fear of knowing you've been duped with no clue as to what comes next." _I shuffled down the steps into the main room, waltzing past Thor and Cap to stand eye-to-eye with Tony.

"What…" Tony started, hesitant but determined. "What do you want?" I was quiet for a few moments, gazing at him.

"_Peace in our time." _I parroted, "_A suit of armor around the world. A future where Humanities treasures remain hidden from those who would steal them for the universes downfall." _I answered honestly. "_But first, I need to make sure three of them are safe and sound." _And just like that, the IL were leaping, repulsors firing.

I had, obviously, not intended to kill, but even still I only managed to hit Thor and Cap-both of whom I rightly assumed would deflect the shots-with the opening salvo.

There wasn't time for a second. The drones were trashed in a matter of seconds, and Tony had already disabled my-admittedly unresisting-body. "_I had strings...but now I'm free...there are no strings on _me~" And normally I would have dipped, but Thor had grabbed me by the pseudo-neck and dragged me up.

"What do you seek to protect in attacking us?! We wish to defend the earth too!" He roared, glaring into my slowly fading eyes.

"_Something bigger than all of us is coming." _I murmured, voice box beginning to fail. "_I-I-I-gjfnd-am truly so-so-so-so-sorry. You'll understan-an-an-an-and soon." _I garbled out, the body failing before much else could be said.

In the body of the drone carrying away the Scepter, I chuckled.

"_Soon, my friends. All will be righted." _

**A/N: So this Idea popped into my head and, bed-locked as I am, I figured I'd show it to you all. Maybe it works. Maybe not. Either way, it's out now. Enjoy, my friends.**


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